Marvell has been relatively low-key until recently when the Intel deal came about. Can you elaborate on the technologies and products you provide?
It was only when we bought Intel's communications and application processor unit did people sit up and take notice of us. But the fact is that we have been in the semi conductor business for the last 11 years. We are among the top five fabless semiconductor companies. We are the largest player in the market in the area of to consumer-class Wi-Fi products which are used in cell phones, cameras, gaming consoles, PSPs and stereo systems; Gigabit Ethernet and storage. We are also in the HD-DVD and HDTV space.

How does the Intel deal gel with Marvell's strategy?
We have a small R&D team that looks at cell phone chips. With the Intel deal, we have a much bigger presence in this area since we have access to Intel's XScale processor technology. We have had a good working relationship with Intel for the last six years. Intel's application processors go into high-end phones like BlackBerry, Motorola Q phones and 3G phones in Asia. The manufacture of these chips will continue at Intel's fab in the transition period (two years). In the long run, we will second source the manufacture of these chips.

What is your future plan?
We want to be the next TI. Compared to TI, which has a lot of legacy technologies, we are into new technologies and new classes of products. Areas like digital signal processing (DSP) and System-on-Chip (SoC) are our strengths and we will use these to address other markets. Since we have new technologies, our architecture is more scalable and applicable for new generation products.

Can you elaborate on your India operations?
We have two design centers in Gurgaon, which became part of Marvell as a result of our acquisition of the Avago printer group this year. The Bangalore office was set up in 2002, when it was part of National Semiconductor. We took over this division in May 2005. The team, which has 35 engineers, works on video processing for high-definition technology. We have the capacity to expand to 120 seats.

Priya Padmanabhan
maildqindia@cybermedia.co.in

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